Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Labor Day Weekend!

Wow, we had a fun Labor Day weekend. Despite raining on Sunday, Marty and I met up with some of my friends (Gloria, Ryan M, Ryan F, Honda, and James) and one of his friends, Elmo, at Glencarlyn dog park. We decided to do a picnic before taking the puppies to the park (this is the no leash park we've been to before) but unfortunately it was raining pretty steadily.

We ended up eating on a picnic bench under an over hang, which was nice, but Marty and Elmo were kind of freaking out for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, they were tied to a post. Marty, being the brilliant puppy that he is, consistently tried to surge towards me (about 8 ft away, leash is about 5 ft) only to get caught and get yanked back. Then he would just continue to try walking towards the table, choking himself in the process, but not really caring.

Second, Elmo and Marty thought that by walking around post they would somehow escape from its clutches. This was not the case. All it did was shorten their leashes. They kind of realized this after they ended up tangling themselves to the point that they couldn't move.

Third, random small children reaching out to them while speaking Spanish. Marty was not amused. Actually, Marty was terrified. It was kind of hilarious, even though I felt bad.

With lunch finished we went to the dog park. Marty and Elmo were glad to not be tied up and once we took off their leashes, took off chasing one another and running around. Now, if you recall, in a previous blog post I mentioned how much Marty loved the water last time were at the dog park.

In the past 6 days he seemed to forget this. I expected him to just surge into the water, without fear, and show Elmo how it's done (Elmo did NOT like the water...at first). After a few trepidatious steps, Marty made his way into the water and remembered that he in fact DID like the water. Within minutes he was running around and swimming.

Dude, the water is AWESOME.

He kind of forgot how to play fetch, but remembered after a little bit. Some of the funniest moments were when I would toss the ball into the "deep" area of the stream. Marty and Elmo would charge after it, only for Elmo to come to screeching halt right before the deep end, leaving it for his big buddy to go in and grab the ball. Then Elmo would try to snipe it and bring it back. It was hilarious.

Don't worry man, I got this.

Ryan M. and Gloria's goal for the day was to get Elmo swimming around and enjoying the water. They were AWESOME at it. Ryan waded into the water (the water actually felt really nice) carrying Elmo. He would then slowly lower Elmo into the water while holding him. Elmo would start swimming and then all of us would encourage him. Marty started trying to encourage him, but just became a stepping stone for Elmo during his swim. By the end of the day Elmo was going into the water on his own, and all in all it was a big win.

With Elmo trying to use Marty as a stepping stone (Marty didn't mind, he actually puts his head underwater on his own) we thought it best if Marty and I went wandering around for a bit. During our roams I also fell in the water a bit (well, Marty came sprinting in front of me from out of nowhere, and while trying not to step on him, I fell a bit).

The rest of the afternoon was great. For a long time we were really the only group there. Other dogs would stop by for a bit (it was still kind of rainy) but never stay too long. Except for Chumley. Unfortunately there are no pictures of him, but he was a beautiful Bernese Mountain dog. For those who don't know, Bernese Mtn. dogs are HUGE and Chumley was no exception. He towered over Marty and Elmo, and he also loved swimming. He was just a mountain of wet fur and giant dog. When he shook himself off, we all got wet. It was hilarious and he was such a sweet dog.

We were at the park for a little over two hours and by the time we left a ton of other dogs had shown up. Marty made friends with another puppy who was scared of everything just like him. They got along really really well. In my mind they were comparing what each other is scared of and just agreeing that they're both scared of everything. They ran around together for a bit until Marty decided to go swimming. Unfortunately his new friend did not like the water and Marty, being the heart breaker that he is, kept swimming and never looked back.

For about 30 seconds. Then he turned around and continued running around playing with her.

The park was insanely fun and really tiring for Marty and Elmo. By the end of the afternoon, they were kind of collapsing. Ok, Marty still had energy somehow, but Elmo was completely crashing. Well, Marty was tired, but didn't want to admit it.

Go ahead buddy, take a nap. I'll watch your back.

He wanted to have energy really badly, but after a minute or two would completely calm down, curl into a ball, and go to sleep.

There are a lot more pictures from the park (thank you Gloria!!!) so enjoy: